So who could it be? She didn’t have a clue, and neither did Riley but they intended to keep their eyes open for any new danger. But, in the meantime, they had work to do. Early on Saturday morning, they reached his old apartment. It was time to clean it, pack it, and relieve him of the lease. Riley wouldn’t come back here. His life took a new turn with Tania, and she was determined to hang onto him. When he talked about marriage and kids, she’d been taken aback but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.
Perhaps he would ask her to marry him someday. She might say yes. She might say no. At this point, she wasn’t so sure. Everything was moving too fast, but, somehow, she didn’t feel like slowing the pace. He loved her, she loved him, and they planned to build a life and a business together. A ring on her finger wouldn’t change anything, but, yes, it would give her a sense of peace and belonging. Would he feel the same way about it? Or would he think of it as a curtailment of her independence?
With a strong man like Riley, she always had to be on the top of her form because he was used to taking charge. If she allowed him, he would run their lives, but, perhaps, that’s why she loved him even more; he pushed her right to the edge and forced her to always deliver the best, to remain on top of the fame. Life without him would be incredibly dull, and that’s why she never wanted to face that again.
Riley parked the car and then sat. She snapped her fingers. “Come on. Time’s a wasting. We need to haul these boxes up to your apartment.”
He smiled. “Yeah, sorry.”
“What’s going on? Didn’t you get a good night’s sleep last night?”
Popping open the truck, he took out a number of cardboard boxes and dumped them in her arms. He hauled out the rest and closed the trunk. “I haven’t had a good sleep since I met you.”
“Hey, it wasn’t my fault that you decided to take out strawberries and whipped cream.”
“The idea was to eat them, not to…” The thought of what they did with the whipped cream brought a smile to her face. Never mind the messy sheets that she had to put in the wash afterwards; it had been the best sex of her life. “Never mind. If we keep talking about that, I’ll get ideas and, frankly, we can’t afford to waste time.”
She grinned. “As you wish, sir. In and out in one day. That’s the plan.”
Since Riley had never bothered collecting things of sentimental value to him, most of the furniture had already been sold and people would be coming in to collect it during the day. His personal belongings would take two suitcases and a few boxes. Then they could hand over the keys to owner of the apartment and go back home.
Home, such a big word. It had always been her home, but now it was theirs. Before she met Riley, she’d never thought that she would one day call a place where she lived with a man as a home. She’d been the original footloose and independent woman, and didn’t like the idea of tying herself to one man, but now she was thinking about marriage and kids.
How things changed, and how the mighty fell! She didn’t mind it in the least. Living with Riley and experiencing life with him was one of the most surreal experiences of her life and she was enjoying it to her heart’s content. After they reached his apartment, Riley opened the door. For a moment she felt a brief shiver of fear as he slowly opened the door. Perhaps it was a good thing he was leaving this place; it would be impossible to forget that they nearly died here. After they got in, he locked the door and they began the work. As expected, his kitchen supplies were in short supply and only filled one box. He moved on the master bedroom and Tania took the study, which contained even less personal belongings.
She took off the photo frames and posters that he’d put on the wall of the study. The paperwork was dumped in the boxes. He could take care of it later at her place. “Hey, Riley. You want to take the posters?”
“No, just the photo frames.”
She glanced down at the happy couple that was beaming at her from the frame as he sauntered in to take a look at what she was up to. “Those are my parents. They live in Hawaii. Moved down there after dad retired. That was his dream. Now he sits in front of their cottage all day, talks to the fishermen, sometimes goes for a boat ride, and reads detective novels.”
“That’s the life.”
“Sure is.” He watched her with measured eyes as she put the frame down in the box. “Perhaps when things are more settled in the business, we could take off for a week and go and visit them.” Tania’s hands trembled, and of course, he saw it. He laughed. “I thought nothing scared you. You’ve braved meeting a gang lord and stealing from him, survived a shootout, and a kidnapping but the idea of meeting my parents terrifies you.”
“More than anything,” she admitted.
He caressed her cheek with his finger. The look in his eyes was so knowing, so intimidating, that she felt her heart pound. He knew her too well. Sometimes that terrified her, but, of course, she loved it. He could read her as if she were an open book and, yet, there were always surprised. “I don’t want to push you. If you’re not ready, it’s fine.”
Too soon, too soon! She wanted him to back off a little. Meeting his parents was a huge deal, and she wasn’t yet sure if she was okay with doing it. But Tania wasn’t a coward. She’d survived much more and this wasn’t such a big deal. Well, sure it was, but she wouldn’t let it become one. “It would be nice to meet your parents.”
He raised an eyebrow, as if he wasn’t sure she meant it. “If you aren’t comfortable, we don’t need to talk about.”
She walked over, slid her hands over his chest, and raised her chin. “Riley, any woman who is crazily in love with a man is terrified with the idea of meeting his parents, correction, mother. Of course, your mama would think you’re the most handsome, the most smart, and efficient man in the whole wide world, and even though I share her opinion, it wouldn't stop her from looking at me and wondering if I’m good enough for her son. So yes, I’m scared, but I can do it.”
He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “She’ll take one look at you and wonder how I got so lucky.”
“You’re not at all aware of how mothers think.” She kissed him lightly on the lips. “For example, my mother’s going to take one look at you and wonder what I see in you.”
He winced. “Great. Now I’m scared of meeting your parents.”
“As you should be. My father’s retired from the police and he’s going to dig into your background and check out every tiny detail.”
He blinked his eyes, as if he didn’t relish the idea for such an inspection. “I don’t have anything in my record, except, perhaps, for a speeding ticket five years ago.”
“In that case, he’d probably clear you, but when he finds out that we helped the police nail those bastards, he would embrace you. My father’s big on everyone doing their civic duty.”
He perked up. “Really?”
She put a few more files in his boxes while he stood and looked at her. He looked so cute. She wanted to rip his clothes and make love to him right now, but she contained herself. They would have plenty of time to do that later. For now, they had to finish this work. “Truly.”
“And what about you mother? What might ease her into liking me?”
“She’s a tougher nut to crack. It’s not the policemen who are strong but, rather, their wives. She pretty much raised me on her own because dad was always on duty, so she’s the one you’ve to watch out for. But don’t worry, if I keep mentioning that you took a bullet for me, she would eventually come around.”
The doorbell rang. He gave her a thumbs up. “That sounds like a solid plan. That has to be guy who was supposed to pick up the couch.”
He walked out and she heard him open the door. For a moment, her heart thumped as she recalled the last time when Raymond and his gang members targeted them, but then she saw the guy who came to collect the couch. Tania smiled when she saw Riley talk to the guy. It was time to put the old fears behind. By the time he helped the guy haul the couch out to the van, Tania
had packed all the boxes in the study. Soon, someone else came to pick up the bed. The day passed quickly. They ordered lunch and ate it standing up, straight out of cartons, eager to finish this task they had scheduled for today.
They were both exhausted but by the time the evening rolled around, all the boxes were neatly packed. The only thing Riley was taking there was his TV, which he refused to part with so Tania had agreed to stick it in her own study for now. Lord knew they would occasionally have use for two televisions, especially when sports were on. She didn’t like watching endless amount of soccer with him, so, perhaps, it was a good idea.
“I’ll start hauling the boxes down now,” he told her.
She nodded. “I’ll take a last round of all the rooms and the bathroom to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”
Riley wasn’t planning to take out the carpets or the rugs, but everything else was taken care of. After he came up and took more boxes downstairs, she took out her phone and checked her messages. Riley came up again.
“Good news. We’ve got Simon and Co,” she informed him.
“Great, sweetheart. Good job.” He gave her a kiss on her lips. “So I guess we have to start working for them next week.”
“They’re going to be our biggest and most demanding clients but if we nail it, we’d be the ones in need of bigger offices.”
“Oh, we can do it easy enough.” Picking up the TV, he went down again. When he came up, she was rapidly typing on the phone. “What now?”
“I’ve set up an initial meeting with their administrative head for tomorrow at nine p.m. sharp. We should both go and meet her. She has got a whole list of requirements for warehouses and for factory outlets, so I’d like it if we went over those with her.”
“Sure. I’m taking the last haul now. Why don’t you lock the apartment and come down with me?”
She glanced at the row of boxes. Only two were left. “Let me just finish this email.”
“Come down when you’re ready.”
Riley walked down for the last time. Tania winced as she typed out the email. He hadn’t said anything but she was aware that he didn’t like her working during the weekends. Working on their business was a little obsessive and neither of them could seem to let go. It was obvious they would need to put in more effort to not bring work home from the office. Sure, it might give them an initial boost if they worked too hard, but they would burn out soon, and she enjoyed the work too much to give it up due to exhaustion at some point. It was better to keep a control over this for now.
Weekends were for personal time, and the rest of the week they could work like dogs. She loved this life and wanted them to grow old together while doing the same work, so they would have to be more disciplined and less anal. All she wanted was to be with Riley, to have a good business, and to have fun. Nothing else excited her.
Tania shoved the phone in her pocket and walked to the door. She opened it, gasped when she saw who was behind the door, and tried to shut it.
The men strode in and before she could scream, one of them put a hand on her mouth and clamped her around her neck. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She’d thought that they left such dangers behind but it was right there on their doorstep once more.
“Where is Riley?”
She hoped that he was gone. “He wouldn’t leave her,” said the other man. “If she’s here, he must be here or, perhaps, he went downstairs.”
“Should I go and check?” said the third man.
The man who held her laughed as she struggled against his hold. “Don’t worry. He’ll find us, and then we’ll deal with them. He wouldn’t leave his ladylove for long. She’s the key and we’ve got her.”
Too late did Tania realize she had put Riley in danger. She should’ve gone downstairs with him. Why didn’t she do so? Now they were both in trouble and she didn’t know what these men would do.
Chapter Thirty
If he’d an antenna built into his head, it would’ve started to vibrate at a sharp speed but as it was Riley straightened after he closed the trunk of the car and cast a careful look at the parking lot. He hadn’t seen anyone come in, but, for some reason, he felt as if he was in danger, as if someone watched him. If that was true, leaving Tania alone hadn’t been the best idea of the day.
He ran up the stairs, not waiting for the clunky elevator that took far too long to move from one floor to another. He burst through the door and stopped short. She stood in the far corner, flanked by three big men. There was no way he could rescue her without getting into a fight. Damn it! When would this nightmare end? For how long could they keep fighting the same people? Sooner or later, this thing had to end.
He could tell from Tania’s expression that she was scared. He was, too – more so for her sake than his own. These men were dangerous and, worst of all, they were desperate. They could do anything, and he didn’t want her to be hurt.
Riley closed the door. “Mac, Paul, Jimmy. It’s been a while.”
Although he kept his voice friendly and calm, the anger that spiraled deep inside him was hot and strong. Ever since their office was broken into, Riley was expecting something like this. Even though he didn’t connect the dots, his instincts told him to carry some extra precautions. Putting his hand behind his back, he drew out a pistol. It was small and light, but it would do the job. He hadn’t even told Tania about it, and the expression on her face told him she was just as shocked as the men who surrounded her.
As the guys clustered tightly around Tania, he pointed it towards them. “I’ve a license to carry it and, given that we’ve already been attacked once and I was nearly killed, I think my plea for self-defense would stand a good chance.”
Mac gulped but he didn’t shift away from the trio. “You sent Raymond and Charlie to jail.”
Riley smirked. “They deserved it. It’s a crime to commit an insurance fraud, to kidnap a witness, and to kill people. They were way in over their heads, and you’re just plain lucky they didn’t drag you into jail with them.”
“We’re brothers. That’s what Devil’s Mafia Brotherhood stands for,” said Jimmy. Knowing these men well, Riley realized that he was the brains behind this little scheme. The other two were just lackeys. This was Jimmy’s show. “One of us is in trouble, we all come. That’s how it goes. You sent them to jail, and you’ve got to suffer.”
“Where was that motto when they tried to attack me right in this apartment?”
Mac’s gaze darted to Jimmy and then settled back on Riley. “We didn’t know they were planning to do that.”
“But you were the one who slashed my bike and vandalized our office.”
Jimmy curled his upper lip. “It wasn’t enough to make you realize you fucked with the wrong dudes.”
“You’re the ones who are screwing with your future. I left that life the moment I realized that those assholes were playing us for fools. We never signed up for insurance fraud, kidnapping, and attempted murder.”
“You’re lying about those things.”
“Don’t be silly. Do you think it would’ve been easy for me to fool the police?” He snorted while his hand that held the gun remained steady. “Raymond and Charlie were caught and there’s enough evidence to nail them. Now, you guys have to decide if you want to take the same route or if you want to start clean again.”
“We want revenge, and beating your sorry ass fits the bill,’ growled Jimmy.
He wouldn’t use the gun. Riley wasn’t such a great shot that he could confidently shoot them while they were standing so close to Tania. And he didn’t want to hurt these guys. They were lashing out at him because he’d dared to remove the status quo. He didn’t blame them for their anger, but it was misplaced. He wasn’t the one who deserved it. Raymond and Charlie, the gang bosses who whipped up such a nefarious scheme, were the ones who were responsible for putting the whole club in jeopardy. Once, all these men wanted were to ride the bikes together and make friends with each other. He was sure that the
y hadn’t forgotten the good old days when life was carefree and they didn’t have to worry about police or insurance fraud. Maybe he could remind them of that time.
After debating both sides of the argument, he shoved the gun back in the waistband of his trousers. “It wasn’t loaded anyway.”
Mac raised his eyebrows while Tania sucked in a deep breath. “You’re a total idiot,” said Mac.
“Am I?” Riley took a step forward. “Think about it. You beat me, I press charges, and you go into jail. Who’s the idiot then?”
“We’ll fucking kill you as well as your ladylove who caused all this trouble in the first place,” growled Jimmy. “And then you won’t be able to talk to the police.”
This Savage Love: A Bad Boy Romance Boxed Set Page 119